title: Automated Identification of fetal cardiac valve timings.
abstract: In this paper a new noninvasive method is proposed for automated estimation of opening and closure timings of fetal cardiac valves. These timings are obtained from Doppler Ultrasound (DUS) signal and fetal electrocardiogram (fECG) as a reference. Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is first applied to the DUS signal to decompose it into different components called Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). The envelope of the first IMF is then taken and its peaks are identified. The opening and closure of the valves are then automatically assigned to the IMF peaks by using Hidden Markov Model (HMM). It is shown that this new method can continuously evaluate fetal cardiac valves' (aortic and mitral) motion timings for 82.5~99.7% of cardiac cycles. The estimated timings are verified using the Pulsed Doppler images. These findings can be used as sensitive markers for evaluating the fetal cardiac performance.
authors.forename: Faezeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marzbanrad
authors.forename: Ahsan H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Khandoker
authors.forename: Kiyoe
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Funamoto
authors.forename: Rika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sugibayashi
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Clarissa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Velayo
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Marimuthu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Palaniswami
mesh_terms: D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000502:physiology; D001331:Automation; D003198:Computer Simulation; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006351:Heart Valves / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008390:Markov Chains; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000502:physiology; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D011247:Pregnancy; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000379:methods*